Exxon’s second exploration vessel scheduled to arrive in Guyana in October -Minister Harmon advocates for more investments in environment, sport and capacity building

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Exxon’s second exploration vessel scheduled to arrive in Guyana in October -Minister Harmon advocates for more investments in environment, sport and capacity building

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Published: 12 September 2018

Georgetown, Guyana – (September 12, 2018) Exxon Mobil is bringing to Guyana, a second exploration vessel, the Noble Tom Madden, which is due to arrive in October. This vessel will focus primarily on exploration of high potential areas and will commence drilling at the ‘Pluma’ prospect approximately 17 miles or 27 kilometres from Turbot well. This announcement was made during a meeting between Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon and the company’s Executive Vice-President, Mr. Mike Cousins and Country Manager, Mr. Rod Henson at the Ministry of the Presidency earlier today.

During the meeting, the Minister said that the Government welcomes this new development and is extremely pleased at the success of the new oil find at the Hammerhead-1 Well, which was announced on August 30, 2018.

He told the team that as Guyana continues to prepare itself for the oil and gas sector and that the Government is looking to build and strengthen its capacity, particularly in the technical areas, which will see many more Guyanese involved in the industry. Minister Harmon told the visiting team that the Government would welcome support and assistance to make this a reality.

“In the oil and gas sector, we want to look at the technical skills that can be absorbed. It is something we are paying attention to as a Government. We are going to focus on our technical institutes and restructure them. It is an area in which we are going to focus heavily in the coming days. We need to re-equip them and expand them so that we can get back young people into the workforce and we would like assistance in this area. We currently have about 3,770 persons in the various technical institutes and it is our intention to double or triple that number. We need to have about 10,000 young people enrolled in technical institutes. We have to ensure that our young people are prepared and can enjoy a better life. We need to help them and we are looking forward to continuing that cooperation,” he said.

Additionally, the Minister of State placed on record, the Government’s appreciation for the cooperation that currently exists between the Civil Defence Commission and ExxonMobil Guyana. However, he noted that there are various other environmental projects in which he would welcome the support of the company.

“I have seen the work done with the CDC through the company and I think we need to continue to strengthen these processes and redouble our efforts. Personally, I believe that Georgetown can do with some help in terms of our physical environment, to the extent where we can bring Georgetown back and to a pristine state. We need to recapture the clean-up spirit and emphasise and encourage solid waste management and such things,” he said.

Minister Harmon also used the opportunity to thank the company for its sponsorship and support to the Guyana Amazon Warriors team, which has secured its place in the finals of the much-loved Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

Mr. Cousins expressed appreciation for the ongoing partnership with the Government and the country and reaffirmed his company’s commitment to working collaboratively in building capacity now and in the years to come.